Do you want to live longer? Would you like to have a better quality of life? Then by all means, get those veggies in! After reading this, you will have no more excuses. There are so many benefits of eating the recommended amounts of veggies. But even knowing this, people still have a hard time getting 5 servings of veggies in a day. If you are one of those people, don’t give up just yet. It is actually easier than you might think. Take a look at these tips to get your veggies in.

Start the day with veggies – add 1-2 servings of veggies to your breakfast such as in an omelet or a breakfast wrap. Green and red peppers, spinach, and broccoli are great scrambled in eggs, in an omelet, or in a wrap. Vegetable/Fruit Smoothies are also a great starter. (2 servings in!)

On Hand Veggies – Discover the veggie that you enjoy snacking on and place in a baggie or container. Nibble on this snack bag all day to get one serving in. Carrots and cucumbers are great snack veggies. (Now you’re up to 3 servings already).

Make sure you add veggies to your lunch. This is easy. Just put romaine or spinach lettuce on your sandwich and even cucumbers. You could also do romaine lettuce wraps with tuna or chicken salad. And instead of adding veggies, you can make the veggie the actual meal such as a hot pureed veggie soup or a homemade soup with chunks of veggies. (Now you’re up to 4 servings)

Dinner Time! Ok, you’ve done well all day so now all you need now is to enjoy 1-2 servings of veggies as part of your dinner. Try recipes where the vegetable is the central part of the meal and not just a side, such as casseroles or stir fry. VOILA! You’ve got your 5 veggies in today!

Just remember, in order to get the vegetables in your diet, you cannot wait until dinner time to start eating them. Start as early as possible and nibble throughout the day on raw veggies.

BONUS TIP – Smoothies and Salads are a great way to get 2-4 servings of veggies in at once. Also, eat as many raw vegetables as possible to get the full nutritional value.

My Favorite Smoothie Recipe

1 ½ c spinach

½ c carrots

½ c low fat Greek vanilla yogurt

1 c frozen berries

¼ c juice (apple, tomato, or orange)

Having the life, body, and health you want is not just an impossible dream. It doesn’t take magic. It takes YOU!

Ok, so I have to confess, I am not the greatest cook when it comes to healthy meals that promote weight loss. I mean there are so many things to try and avoid. You have to watch the carbs, increase the protein, lower the sodium, avoid the white stuff, stay away from fat, add the veggies, and get some whole grains in as well. Oh, and then there’s that whole tasting good thing too. So I admit I am lost and confused when it comes to dinner time. Since I’ve gotten started on this weight loss journey, I have basically been sticking to the very basics….baked chicken breast and some kind of veggie, or salad, or center cut pork chops. It’s only so much of that a person can take. So I am on a quest to begin to explore different recipes to keep this interesting for the long haul. It is so important that I get better at this or I will likely fail. And even it I succeed in losing weight, I will not be able to keep it off if I don’t know how to prepare interesting, healthy, and tasty meals. Now I know there are tons of websites with tons of recipes. But it can get overwhelming and the recipes usually require tons of ingredients that I probably do not have. Then I ended up giving up. So my sister, who is such a creative meal planner and home maker, unknowingly inspired me to branch out and look into some marinades to liven up my meats. So for the next few months, I hope to try out many healthy recipes to aid in my weight loss. And since I am not likely to spend the amount of time on a meal that my gifted sister would, the recipes will have to be easy, with few ingredients. I think this will prove to be challenging. So to sum it up, I will need recipes that are:

Healthy

High protein

Low fat

Low carb

Whole grains

Low sodium

Veggie friendly

Low calorie

Low sugar

High taste

Not too many ingredients

EASY

So is this at all possible? If you know, let me know. Please share any easy, healthy recipes that you have tried. Meanwhile, I will be on my quest to find the perfect Diet Dreamer recipes!